Challenged By Higher Chaos
by cupcakebrit
Summary: An anonymous Nerve Gear pops out of no where for the High School students of Victoria Academy. Most ignored it, but some traveled into the new game - Sword Art Online. Follow some of the students into their adventures of being locked up inside this deadly game. Who are the black and white figures they keep bumping into?
1. Chapter 1

Challenged By Higher Chaos

Collab by: cupcakebrit & AngelofDarkTorture

Chapter 1 Anonymous Gifts - Britney's P.O.V

What. Is. This.

Sooo this is me, staring at this red box that randomly appeared in my bedroom. Suddenly I'm poking at it with my finger and the next minute I'm staring at it trying to mentally find out what it is, realising that 1. That does not work and 2. I'm hungry. I went to get a donut.

When I came back I found that there was a group Skype call on and joined in.

_cupcakebrit joined the call._

Me: Heyy guys.

Everyone In The Call: Oh hey Brit.

Me: So what's this all about?

Tanya: Just talking about the mysterious red box that popped out of no where.

Me: WAIIIIT. You guys got it too?

Tanya: WAIIIIT. You got it too?

Me: Well I found it when I got home.

_ joined the call_

Geoff: Before I talk about cats, did you guys by any chance find a redbox?

Everyone: Yepp.

Geoff: Wow that's weird. Though my cat tore it apart.

Me: So what's in it?

Geoff: A nerve gear, you know the one that lets you play SAO?

Jacky: The one that's being released tomorrow?

Geoff: Yea that one.

Me: Ohh, soo why do we get a nerve gear all of a sudden?

Tanya: Jeez. Who knows eh? It's not like we called to talk about food.

Me: We didn't?

Jacky: Anyways… Did you guys receive the game card too?

Geoff: Yea, wait lemme find it.

Tanya: Yepp.

But that's the thing. I already have the game. I already have a nerve gear. I was a beta tester.

Should I tell them? Maybe not.

Seems like the nerve gear we received is an upgraded version though.

Geoff: Oh god. Whiskers stop tearing things up! Ugh sorry guys gotta go.

Jacky: Yea me too, night.

Me and Tanya: Night

_call ended._

I can't get the nerve gear out of my mind, I do miss the game though, maybe I should go back in that world again. Anyways, I gotta sleep.

_The next day:_

This is totally whack. Seems like everyone received their own nerve gear, I wonder if anyone is going to play it, since the game is out now.

"I don't think I'm going to try it out, giving it to my brother." - Angel

"Oh okay then, hope your brother likes it." - Britney

Angel is the only one who knows that I was a beta tester, and the only person who knows I play MMO full-dive games too, since she came to my house once and I was in the middle of the game.

"Have fun though!" - Angel

"Yeh" - Britney

I already kept my afternoon free for the game tonight, it's the last day before Christmas holiday so I needn't worry about school. The bell rang and everyone was talking about the nerve gear, I wonder why everyone received it, huh.

I stared at the nerve gear, inserted the game chip and laid on my bed. Placed the familiar shape of the nerve gear on my head and focused.

"_Link Start."_

My vision turned black and suddenly I could see the town of beginnings, the familiar pavestone and the nice smell of virtual food. The food system here is well perfected. My normally pink hair turned a brunnette with an ombre effect as that was how I set it the last time I came, and I was wearing the normal beginner clothes - A plain pale blue tank top and deep blue shorts.

I start wondering around the town, and saw two other people spawning near me. I knew the basic rules. Try to go through the levels, try not to lose any HP and the best way of doing those things, are to "party" up with people so that there is a lower chance of dying. Bigger groups are called guilds. The people who just spawned stared at me.

"Uhh, hey." I said

"Sup" The guy with maroon hair so casually said.

"Yo" The other girl with long ruby red hair waved at me.

"So instead of being awkward, shall we party up and not get killed?"

"Sure, what's your names?" Maroon guy asked.

"Annaly" I said. Though that was just my gaming name.

"The name's Suzanna Rose." The redhead added.

"Nice to be at your acquaintance, I'm Jordan" Still fully maroon headed guy said.

"We should get moving, get some basic kills and… stuff." Suzanna, hmmm seems like she wanted to say something else… but, oh well, she's right.

"We should go to this town, it's closest….. umm I think." I pointed to the map that appeared in front of me. I hope I didn't blow my cover. Oops.

"It's okay if you guys are beta testers, I am one too." Jordan smiled.

"Well guess we have an advantage then" We all laughed.

We spent the day running around town, gathering materials and such. When we heard a horn blow, we all got transported to the main square, there were a lot of people, I'm guessing all the players were forcefully transported here. A red dome covered the whole square, not letting us get out.

Tanya's POV.

What the hell is going on.

I was enjoying my little adventures with a few random players in SAO, amazingly we were all beta testers. I go by the name Tanya, but in game I'm Suzanna. Suzanna Rose.

Anywayyyyys. Getting sidetracked here. We were just clearing the last few wolf camps when we got force teleported back to the town square. I heard a horn blow as the red barrier glowed around us.

A silhouette dawned through the dome and into the square and everyone fell silent, after catching everyone's attention, the silhouette came to life and revealed Akihiko Kayaba, producer of SAO, one of my biggest idols.

"Attention Players, welcome to my world, my name is Kayaba Akihiko, as of this moment, I am the sole person who can control this world."

Mutter's were heard from throughout the town square.

"I'm sure that you have already noticed that the logout button is missing from the main menu."

Wait. What? I opened the main menu and checked. Nope. It ain't there.

"But this is not a defect in the game, I repeat, this is NOT a defect in the game, it is a feature of Sword Art Online, you cannot log out of SAO yourselves, and no one on the outside can shut down or remove the nerve gear. Should this be attempted, the transmitter in the Nerve Gear will emit a powerful microwave, destroying your brain and thus ending your life."

WAIT. NO. Ending my life? Nah this is a prank from the game. I'm sure. Please… I don't want to- to- to die. I have a boyfriend. I scheduled to visit my parents.

"Unfortunately, several friends and family of gamers have ignored this warning and have attempted to remove the Nerve Gear. As a result, 213 players are gone forever from both Aimerad and the real world."

TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN? NO. NO. PLEASE.

"As you can see, news organizations across the world are reporting all of this including the deaths, thus you can assume that the danger of a Nerve Gear being removed is now minimal. I hope you will relax and attempt to clear the game."

RELAX? NOPE.

"But I want you to remember this clearly, there is no longer any method to revive someone in the game, if your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be forever lost, and simultaneously the Nerve Gear will destroy your brain."

Breathe in. Breath out.

"There is only one means of escape. To complete the game. You are presently on the lowest floor of Aimerad, floor 1. If you make your way through the dungeon and defeat the floor boss, you may advance to the next level. Defeat the final boss on floor 100, and you will clear the game. Clear?"

Yes, it's clear. Survive or Die. I choose to survive. I was too busy zoning out when Jordan nudged me and said to check my inventory. Opening it I saw a special item.

Clicking on "Legendary Object: Mirror."

My avatar shimmered for a while as I was caught off guard, I expected to dissolve and die but I just felt my clothes tightening around me. After a while it stopped.

Looking around me, everyone changed. Not clothing wise but, appearance wise too.

I looked at my hands and saw my leather gloves and I felt my tank top and leather jacket on my torso, and my ragged jeans and combat boots.

The second after I realised that I am no longer Suzanna and I am Tanya, I feel a tap on my back.

Turning around I see Annaly and Jordan.

Except they weren't Annaly and Jordan.

They were two of my best mates, Britney and Jacky.

"Suzanna Rose?"

* * *

><p>Heyyy guys ;) It's brit here just saying that this is a collab fanfic (On the top of the page hehe)<p>

we're both going to be uploading the story on our profiles so yeh.

Leave a like if you enjoyed it and any comments xD

x brit


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 No More Hiding

Britney's P.O.V

I just shimmered. It was not how I was expecting my first shimmer to be, like I expected to grow wings and become a fairy, well, when I was ten.

Everyone was shimmering, and everyone looked different afterwards. I stared down at my hair, it's pink again. I looked around to see none other than Jacky and Tanya. We were all staring at each other, surprised obviously.

"So you guys were- and we just-and… what?" We all simultaneously said. Everyone in the square was confused, frustrated, scared. Oh right did I mention this is a game where I can't log out until we defeat the level 100 boss? I guess I didn't.

Actually, I wasn't really too scared, I was more surprised at Jordan and Suzanna, which turned out to be Jacky and Tanya. I was more determined on getting out of this place, than to squeal around being scared. We're getting out of here, no other option except to die.

Jacky was rubbing his temples. "Okay, so you guys were beta testers? And it seems to me you guys were good ones too."

"I guess." Me and Tan said.

"Wait. Brit, you play?" Jacky and Tanya asked me. Boom, secret out.

"Umm yea, it's always been a hobby, and when I got an email to be a beta tester, well I went all out." I answered. Kinda embarrassing myself right now… But there are more things we should care about, first, defeat the level 1 boss.

"I wonder who died…" Jacky said with a frown on his face. "I wonder if… you know since Regina entered the game too… Do you guys mind if I go umm find her?" Regina is Jacky's girlfriend.

"Sure, we're going to find a place to plan things, message me when you find her." I replied.

Whilst Jacky went to go find Regina, Tanya and I found a cafe to sit in and discuss our plan. Planning is something I like to do, it reassures me, it helps me realise that I know what I'm doing. I know how I'm going to get through things. "We have already got some food and basic weaponry in the last few hours. I think we should spend more time to train and kill. Strengthen our fighting abilities and group up with others to defeat the boss." I planned while Tanya agreed. She was more of a "okay, I know what I'm doing, time to kill virtual objects" sort of person. After our lunch I received a message from Jacky.

_Found her, choosing weapons, where are you?_

_Corner Cafe. _

_Be there in a few._

Jacky turned up with a girl following him, they were holding hands. Ugh. Get a room.

"Hey, so what weapon did you choose Regina?" Tanya asked.

Regina, a girl with pitch black hair, not like mine or Tanya's teal colored hair. She's wearing a plain grey tee and black trousers. "Oh I just got a dagger, I'm planning to be more of a healer sort of player, not really that into killing things."

"Then how are you supposed to survive?" I snapped.

"I'll protect her." Jacky snapped back. I rolled my eyes. We always fight when Regina is around, for some reason I get really… irritated.

"Anyways, here's our plan. Sorry Regina, but you should at least upgrade your fighting abilities, for precautions." I explained our plan to them both. They agreed and we headed to the fields to find some wild monsters. My weapon is just a single blade, it's slim and deadly sharp, I got it as a reward for killing this plant monster quest we took a while back. I call it Anastasia. The grip is light pink, the colour of my hair, I guess that's why I am so attached to it now.

Jacky was teaching Regina some basics and Tanya and I were trying to work on switching.

Tanya's P.O.V.

I am exhausted.

After a whole day of training, we formed a party.

Who's "we"?

Me, Britney, Jacky and Regina.

And the line-up?

Well I'm more of a front line type of fighter, I usually fight with double katana's. But for now I have my beginner's weapons, I have a medium length dagger called Katropis, almost as long as from my hand to my elbow, I have my emergency bow and arrows just in case I need to jump back a bit.. I used to be a back line, doing archery so I have a few points in that mastery, but I'd prefer to get my hands dirty.

Britney's sort of the brains of our party, she's the tactician of us four and we plan to just kill the boss with us four. Jacky's got a rare drop from when we were farming and has a long sword. Us three were pretty undefeatable when we were still hiding under our in-game avatars, but now we have an addition, Regina. She's not exactly the type who likes to kill anything, I swear she wouldn't kill an ant if she didn't have to. She's decided to be the little first aid kit, I have my suspicions, but whatever.

"Ay Brit, I'm going to go out and farm up for some exp. That okay?"

"Sure can I come with? The two are getting too close for me."

On that disgusting note we went and headed a bit further than usual.

I overheard a guy yelling about beta-testers and I ushered Britney to follow. We walked into the stadium and sat down at the furthest edge and listened.

"THE BETA-TESTERS HAVE LEFT US TO DIE."

Not this bullcrap again. They had a damn manual that we inputed. Of course not everything but still. They got the info. This big dude just shut him up. Good.

We snuck back out but not before receiving a glance from two other outsiders, one was wearing a maroon cloak, hiding his or her face, the other was a blackette with spiky hair, wearing a camo shirt and baggy pants. Excuuse me, but HOT.

I remembered a hidden camp somewhere within the forests not far from where we were as I marked it on Britney's map. Sneaking around we found the camp. Nonetheless, I was shocked.

Instead of the 5 level booster Dragon sitting in his nest, I just found a wolf with white and grey fur, hiding near the bushes I opened my menu and checked up the information of this animal for confirmation. And my hunch was correct. It was a Frost HellHound.

Okay. I know that it sounds ironic, frost hellhound eh? But I remember this, last time it took me 8 tries to tame that beast but it's amazingly strong. I elbowed Britney and signalled her to move away for a second, she looked at me weird but listened.

I created a small meat bait from the loot I received when I was hunting deers, and I set it out as fast as I could, I waited for the right moment and I started chanting.

"Oh Frost Hellhound, will thy be the loyal beast of Tanya Mire."

The beast charged towards me, but I held my ground, when he reached one pounce away from me, he stopped and sat. Pixels around him formed as a collar formed around his neck, I ruffled the hellhound's head and checked it's name tag. It was exactly what I wanted to name him. Austin.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 Interference

Britney's P.O.V

Great, now we got a pet. Woohoo. One less bit of food now, but I guess if Tanya is happy, then I'm happy.

It's been at least a month, and we trained our guts out. Jacky, Tanya and I got to level 20, which is higher than average, and Regina got to level 15. We were staying at this nice inn, 100 con per night. Everyone was in bed, but I got to do some planning. We decided that we were ready to go and defeat the level 1 boss. Regina is going to stay back and heal the wounded, Jacky is front-lining, I'll be switching with Tanya. Spending the whole night trying to think of a plan that would NOT get us killed.

In the morning we packed our things and headed out.

We discovered the dungeon a few days ago, in the tallest tower of the town of beginnings. Easily, we got through it, since there weren't much monsters there, hmm wonder why…

Once we got in the boss room, we found out why. We weren't the only ones who found the dungeon.

People were charging, in groups, it's well planned but there was something making me feel uneasy. There was this one opening in which only one person could get to the boss, but it's a fool's plan. The boss could quickly switch weapons and jump on the guy. But it was too late for me to warn him, a guy with light blue hair was running towards that opening, confident and smiling. With one hit, he got flung to the other side of the room.

Me and Tanya couldn't see this no more. The boss was flinging people around. We acted and ran towards it. Switching and using our swords. Anastasia flew, and swiftly, landed some major cuts, decreasing some of his health, Tanya's Katropis stabbed the big monster in the back decreasing the health bar even more, but soon he came out of the surprise and flung us both across the room. You might be asking. Where is Jacky at the time? Well. He was too caught up saying goodbye to his girlfriend. Apparently, she was holding him back because she was scared he'd get hurt. I laugh. At least me and Tanya gave all we got, so we lay on the floor, waiting for Regina to come over and heal us. I did not really know what happened afterwards, but the boss was beat and people were cheering. Until I had to stop Tanya from punching this guys face.

Tanya's P.O.V.

THAT PIECE OF- Whatever.

This guy just insulted us beta-testers.

I wanted to just punch the living hell out of him.

He's lucky that Britney isn't knocked unconscious.

Everyone was quiet but then I heard a sinister laugh.

The hot guy was laughing as he switched from his beginner clothing to the dark cloak that he got from getting the last hit on the boss.

He did this really good speech on him being a beater. Like beta-tester plus cheater equals beater? Anyways, he and that once-was-cloaked girl were having a little conversation on their own, so I just hunched my back, bared the pain and went towards Jacky and Regina.

"Ayo Re, go help out Britney, she's pretty hurt, she got hit in the ribs, I just got my hip hit." Regina gave one last look at Jacky and went to help my best mate.

"So Jacky, why weren't you in battle?"

"Regina was scared I would get hurt."

"If she's going to do that every battle, we might as well be shish-kebabs on a spear."

I joked around trying to lighten up the mood.

"Some help over here Tanya?"

Regina asked as she was dragging Britney by the arms towards our direction. Rude Thang.

I rushed over and propped her up against my shoulder as me and Regina brought her towards Jacky.

Regina opened the menu and summoned a mattress for Britney to lay on as she started tending to her injuries.

I went over back to Jacky and opened my map.

"Level 2's pretty easy, the boss is a fire mage that throws fireballs at people."

I laughed as Austin wagged his tail and barked at me.

For some reason I understood him, maybe because he's my pet? Who knows.

I scratched his ears, "I'm fine Austin, just got a bit hurt." I reassured him.

I felt a hand on my shoulder as I saw Regina.

"Your turn to get healed missy."

I wasn't too hurt so I just needed some bandages and took some pain relieving pills and I was pretty much fine.

Opening my inventory, I grabbed out some twine that I collected to reinforce my dagger since the hilt got damaged, I was working up my blacksmithing skill when I heard a yell.

"WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU DO THAT?!"

Britney was yelling, whether at Jacky or Regina I had no idea.

"I was scared he would get hurt and lose all his HP."

Regina replied calmly, as I saw her eyes get irritated.

"EXCUSE ME? I GOT HIT IN THE DAM RIBS AND LOST PRACTICALLY 90% OF MY HEALTH. OF COURSE WE'RE GOING TO BE HURT."

Regina rolled her eyes and sighed. Before she could answer back, Jacky stood in between the two fireballs and raised his arms.

"Calm down. Both of you."

The two tried to get to each other but Jacky held them back.

Somewhere beside them I saw a guy with red hair and a beanie sharpening his sword.

I gave Jacky a look of sympathy and mouthed Good Luck and headed towards the stranger.

"Wassup?"

I asked as I plopped down beside him.

"Nothin much, just sharpening my little Biter here. Good job on the battle by the way."

"Ha, I got wiped out almost immediately though. The name's Tanya. You?" I grinned.

"The name's Jake. You got some drama going on over there in your little group."

If it was possible, my grin went wider.

"Eh, I didn't add you as a friend yet."

Jake said as he brought up the menu and sent me a friend request.

I accepted as his icon appeared on my map.

"Now I can stalk you."

I joked as he playfully punched my arm.

For the first time in these days, I almost forgot that I was fighting to survive.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 The Resolution of Level 1

Britney's P.O.V

I was pissed.

So pissed that I can't even feel any more pain in my ribs anymore.

It's ridiculous. I know he's your freaking boyfriend, but we're your team mates. Protect him and let us get hurt? I have never met anyone so shallow. Regina is a good friend and all but sometimes I just can't stand her when she's girlfriend mode.

Jacky was standing between us, trying to stop us arguing.

"Calm down, both of you."

My usual happy smile and bright ruby red eyes were no longer there. Replaced by a death stare. I am at the brink of yelling at everyone. Control, Britney. Control. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. "Never. Do that again. If you want to survive and get out of here together, you better not hide one of the most important people from our group." I turned around and walk away. I felt the anger slowly leaving me. It's something that happens a lot. I get mad and then suddenly it just all goes, I become a happy person again, I don't know why, I don't know how, but it was always like that. Though the pain in my ribs came back, I sat down on the mattress and rested.

I saw Tanya talking to a stranger, red hair, beanie. Tooootally her type.

Jacky was talking to Regina. Great. I feel like a fifth wheel now. Jacky started coming over while Regina tries to heal some injured still on the ground.

"You know that was unnecessary." He said frowning. Hah. Unnecessary? Unnecessary my ass, the anger is coming back and I don't like the feeling of it.

"Okay then. If you think it's unnecessary, then it's unnecessary for you to be a part of our party."

"Brit, you know you don't mean it." I exhale.

"Sorry, I didn't mean that. I just think that what she did, what you agreed to do? Unreasonable. We needed your help, when you were dealing with your girlfriend."

"Well she is my girlfriend."

"Just promise me and Tanya that this relationship you're having with Regina, won't affect us getting out of here."

"Promise, now I have to go check out Tanya's new friend, bye."

Good. That's dealt with. I suppose I should go and find Regina.

Found her. "Look. I'm sorry for lashing at you like that. Thank you for healing most of my injuries." She stared at me for a moment.

"Yea. You're welcome."

"Sooo yepp, keep on umm healing?"

"That's what I'm doing right now."

"Obviously." I left, well that went well didn't it? We are total besties.

Anyways I hopped over to Tanya, strange guy and Jacky.

Tanya's P.O.V.

Oh so now we're having a party?

Ugh, before I was so rudely interrupted by Jacky, I got some info out of Jake.

He's apparently a graduate from a music school, and he's 18, I'm 17 so I don't see the problem with us- ugh whatever.

Jacky joined in the conversation then Britney came along too.

After some idle chitchat, we decided that for today we might as well take a break. I was so overjoyed that I could've done a ballerina twirl. But I didn't.

Regina came along and whispered something to Jacky, I didn't bother to eavesdrop since it's probably a flirt. Apparently I thought wrong, Jacky's face went slack with shock as he looked at me.

"What? Is there a bomb on my head or something?" I tried to awkwardly joke, but to no avail.

"Tanya, can I just bring you somewhere real quick?" Regina asked me as I stood with shaking legs. What could've happened? I felt a tug on my arm as Jake smiled at me and stood up.

"I'll go with you." I was so relieved that he was going along with me.

"B-but."

"He's coming with me. Or you don't tell me."

"Fine."

After a few seconds of tensional staring, Regina led me to the wounded and I couldn't believe my eyes.

Tears started welling up in my eyes but I tilted my head up and forced it back in. I hate showing any weakness in front of ANYONE. But what I saw truly broke me, my two brothers, Dathan and Adrian were lying down on mattresses, I ran towards them but Regina attempted to stop me but I shoved her out of the way. I knelt down between my two brothers I noticed something wrong. They both weren't breathing. Their lips were pale, and their bodies were limp.

At that moment, something in me shattered. I didn't care about having an audience, I crashed into Jake's chest and started to cry, I'm stuck in this world which I have a slim chance of even surviving, I lost my two brothers, and my best mate Britney is slowly losing her optimism in this game.

Britney walked towards us and asked what was going on, I stepped aside and pointed at the two bodies. "See for yourself." Jacky ran up and gasped when he saw the corpses. Britney piped up after a few seconds and gave me a hug, "You don't think… a few other of our friends are in the game?" she whispered in my ear as we hugged. I pushed her away slightly, and answered. "I'm sure. We need to find them as soon as we can."

That night, we all returned to the inn and tried to prepare for tomorrow, we took a break today so at least half of the camps would've been cleared already, we gathered information and we got a total of 23 possible locations of secret beneficial camps.

It was a long and restless night while I lay in my bed, I tried to close my eyes and sleep but every time I did I would just see my dead brothers on the floor. I stood up and headed out to have a walk around the town to get a breather. Tomorrow was going to be a long day and we're going to have to be able to work as fast and efficient as possible.

* * *

><p>Hello everyone hehe<p>

I hope you liked the prev chapters keep readin cuz theres gonna be more!

We are currently working on this daily, so you guys won't have to wait so long yay

I'm writing the Britney P.O.V's while AngelofDarkTorture writes Tanya's

Leave a review and all that

xoxo

cupcake


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 Welcome to Level 2 -

Britney's P.O.V

After one of the most restless nights, we headed towards the gate that lead to level 2. We now knew roughly how average bosses are, their abilities and strength, that told us that our training is still not enough, and we need more equipment.

First we looked around town, collecting some transportation crystals for emergency uses and more food. Jacky switched his long sword, and bought Nidalee, a spear that had a knife bottom that was strong enough to cut brick. Tanya traded in her bow and arrows, for two long blades, double crossing at her back.

We were walking around town, I saw this boots shop and basically was jumping up and down and begged everyone to have a look. "Pretty pleeasseee! My shoes are painful, pretty pretty pleaseeee?"

After some discussion I guess they thought I was annoying and let me go. Though the mood was gloomy from them when we got in the shop, I was happy, shopping for clothes at least makes me feel closer to reality. Heh, reminds me of when I go shopping with my mom… Anyways, I ended up getting these kick ass boots, they were maroon red in colour and has the ability of speed. So more or less I was a pretty happy person.

We went out into the forest for some hunting. Our goal is to reach to Level 25 at least.

Easily enough we found a pack of wild boars charging at us, they were mid sized monsters, drooling, it's disgusting but it's the drool of hunger, they want to eat us as much as we want to get out of here. The boars eyes were bright red, staring at us like we were small prey, about to get crushed.

Using my boots of speed I headed in first, landing a few slashes at them, the boars split up, a few of them heading towards me and double that many going towards Jacky and Tanya. At least we have divided the pack already. I put as much energy to my sword and a few slashes from it did the job, but I was distracted and didn't see a pair of tusks coming this way, I quickly jumped as high as I could, the pair of tusks scratched my back but it did not stab me, that was close.

I could see Jacky and Tanya fighting too, Tanya took her double blades out and started to do some of the karate moves she's been working on. Jacky was throwing the spear at long range boars, Regina even stabbed one with her dagger, not much affect though, since Jacky finished it off for her, realising she was in danger.

I got 5 boars on my line, the cut from the boar was too painful. I fell down on the grass. The remaining boars surrounded me, Tanya and Jacky were too busy fighting their own little boar pack themselves.

"Shit." I cried. Britney, think of a plan, strategy. I need a way out, the boars need some distraction… come on, think Britney. Boars, they like to eat meat, they have a big stomach, wild, probably like to eat their own kind… I'm hungry now -

YES! I opened the menu bar then the inventory, I took out one of my jerky sandwiches that I prepared for lunch (working on my cooking skill lately) and threw them as far away as possible. The plan worked, they ran off to fetch it like hungry dogs and I ended up being able to throw my sword at some, rising my HP. But dammit, I was looking forward to that jerky sandwich.

Regina ran over and lifted me up. "You okay?"

"Yea, just a few cuts." I drank some apple juice sitting in the inventory.

"Smart move there. Though I am starving."

"I guess today's hunting is done." Jacky walked over and said, some cuts on his face, already starting to heal.

"We should really go and find a restaurant somewhere, since someone generously gave a donation to some boars." Tanya sarcastically said.

"I was looking forward to eating that too you know." I replied. We all laughed, it felt like we were all in school again, having a laugh.

"Hey, you coming?" Tanya asked.

"Yea, just a moment." I saw them walking out the greens. I keep wondering, is it really that bad to be stuck here?

Tanya P.O.V.

"One double cheeseburger with ice tea please?" Britney ordered with a cheeky smile.

"Jeez Brit, I know training's tiring but I didn't know it would make you hungry." I joked around as I nudged her.

"I'm always hungry, first time you knew me?"

I blinked blankly and stared at her, "Umm… Excuse me miss? Who are you?" I laughed as we waited for our orders to come.

I grabbed out my dual wielding swords and opened up the blacksmithing menu. I had enough materials from both the monster loot and shops to upgrade them. Clicking "Proceed With Upgrade." My swords shimmered then transformed. I did not expect them to look so good and sharp, and they fit me completely too.

*Item Name: Backstabbers

Durability: 1060/1060

Upgrade Level: 2/25

Type: Dual Wielding Swords*

Sweet. They turned from a double stone swords to steel swords. The hilt kept it's blood red color but turned from cloth to a leather grip.

"Guys, what are we going to do about the others?"

Regina piped up as I placed Backstabbers back into my inventory.

"We need to be on the lookout when we're in town squares and hunting, look for our friends and hopefully help them, presuming they didn't die."

Britney said, and everyone went silent. Only the sounds of chewing were heard throughout the rest of the lunch. After paying, I told the team that I wanted to head out and try out my new weapons while training in the woods.

I equipped Backstabbers, and I had a strap that attaches both swords in a cross on my back for extra mobility. I took out both swords and did a few slashes and swipes, getting used to the weight and material difference. It wasn't dual katanas but it was still something right?

I held onto the hilt and started having some fun by twirling them around and imagining I was cool. That's the thing I love about the game, you can do stuff that you can never to in the real world. Example? Triple backflips off a boss.

I went ahead and farmed a few more camps to get used to all the attack moves with the weapon when a bunch of ox's surrounded me. I cautiously stepped back, not wanting to make any sudden movements that would make them charge me when I bumped into a solid surface.

"Tanya?"

"Jake?"

I did a small chuckle then I remembered the situation I was in.

"Wanna go all out ham and pork chops on them?"

Jake piped up when the ox's were closing in on us.

"I'll handle half, you handle the other half?"

I suggested, though I wasn't sure what level was Jake and whether he could handle it.

"On the count of three."

I gripped both swords on either side.

"Three,"

I bent down and got into battle stance.

"Two,"

I targeted my opponents.

"One."

"SHADOW SLASH!"

I charged head first into the mob of ox's, my blades glowing a vivid red, as I did a 360 and wiped out the nearest bunch of enemies with one hit.

"DARK TOPPLE!"

I charged up my skill while the ox's charged at me, and at the time when I felt the ability was strongest I released and a dark purple dome exploded around me and cleared most of them up. I did a few basic attacks and combos and killed the remaining monsters, catching my breath I walked around to pick up some loot and skin some monsters when I saw Jake staring.

"What's wrong?"

I asked, wondering whether I did something wrong or whether my jeans were broken and showing my butt.

"That.. That power, it's dark assassin magic isn't it?"

Wait what? I thought at the beginning of the game I already chose to be a dual weapon wielder and backup archery and swordsman skill. Assassin magic was too hard for me to handle.

"I never chose that at the beginning of the game though."

I replied as I opened up the menu and opened my game profile.

*Main Battle Skill: Dual Weapon Wielder, Dark Assassin.

Backup Battle Skill: Archery, Swordsmanship, Dark Mage.*

What? I have TWO main battle skills?

"I thought we were allowed to only have one main battle skill."

Jake placed his hand on my shoulder and read my profile.

"I-I don't know."

I stammered, I wanted to believe this was a game glitch but I knew somewhere that it wasn't.

"I'll walk you back to your inn if you want."

"Thanks Jake."

I closed the profile and opened the map and started heading southwest to the level 2 town square. At the entrance we bid our farewells and wished each other good luck. And shaking off the shock of my face I joined the meeting.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 - Old Friends

Britney's P.O.V

We have successfully reached level 6. Phew! What a workout!

We were heading to our town inn on the sixth floor. "The air is fresher here!" I spread my arms and felt the air rush through me, it's virtual but it almost seemed real. I spinned around a few times to find a few chuckles coming from them. "What? Can't someone just be happy we survived this long?"

"Yea, I guess." Tanya said, smiling.

"Anyways, we better collect some data on this place. Where the dungeon is and where the best restaurant is."

"Brit, do you always just think of food?"

"First of all, why not. Second of all, I told you guys, if we're going through this game, why don't we just call each other in our game names?"

"Sure, it would be fun. Hi everyone, I'm Rocky." Regina said.

"Jordan."

"Suzanna"

"Nice to meet you. I'm Annaly."

We went to have a look at our inn and then left to look around. I took Anastasia to the blacksmith's, they upgraded her to level 10/25. Anastasia has been with me for the past few levels, and I guess collecting materials from dungeon drops is worth giving her an upgrade. Anastasia carries a high swift level and sharpness, going along with my boots could easily sneak up on someone. I tried it with Jacky once when we were dueling each other, I won the rare rabbit he speared in the end. It was delicious.

"Annaly! Come on, we gotta help clear out some dungeons!" Tanya called.

"Coming Suz!" I quickly paid the blacksmith and left. The guilds that has formed asked us for some assistance in clearing out the dungeons, though we agreed that this boss fight is going to be the guilds fight, not ours.

When I came out of the store, I bumped into someone, it was a girl. She had bangs and dye brown hair, a bit shorter than me and she had freckles. "Oh sorry, I wasn't looking."

"Britney?" I stopped and looked at her.

"Lisa?" I couldn't believe it, though considering we all got the Nerve Gear, it made sense that she would be here.

"Wow, I couldn't believe you survived this long!" Suddenly, I feel a sense of offense. Why won't I have survived?

"Yea, I know right. Are you partying with anyone?" I asked politely.

"Yea, I found Kaylin and Michelle, along with Geoff, Adrian and Theo." Adrian, as in Adrian Toff, not Tanya's little brother.

"Wow, that many people from our school came over?" I was shocked that we would find each other that quickly.

"Yea, I thought we were the only group. Who are you partying up with?"

"Jacky, Tanya and Regina. Funny story really." I laughed, thinking about how we all got shocked because we were beta testers.

"I guess we'd have a lot of time to catch up then. Where you heading?"

"Helping some guilds clear out the dungeons, you?"

"Oh we were just having a look see, maybe we'll join you soon?"

"Yea, I'll message you when we're around." I sent her a friend request. She accepted.

"Yea, nice meeting you. Good luck, hope you survive!" I waved back as I rushed to join Tanya.

"You cannot believe who I just bumped into."

Tanya's P.O.V.

It's an understatement to say that I was relieved, Britney bumped into a few of our friends while she was upgrading Ana (My nickname for her sword.) After a while of walking we reached the gate of the dungeon, and I stopped the other three.

"Okay, I know Britney's the brains of all of this but there's a few things I think we should remember. One, we are just here to help with the dungeon, try not to steal too many kills, but stay in range for experience points. Two, avoid helping too much with the boss, we don't want to give anyone false hope, not wanting to sound mean but if we help them through this, who knows whether they were originally weak and shouldn't have survived the boss and they go cocky. Last but not least, /all/ members are to engage in battle unless they are under 30% HP."

I eyed Regina at the last sentence. Everyone nodded as I cleared my throat.

"Well then, let's go kick some monster ass!"

We all did a cheer and opened the dungeon door.

It was just a blur, just walking in through the doors and seeing the guild fight against the enemies and we were welcomed hastily by the guild's tactician. We immediately charged into battle, I don't know about the others, but me and Britney cleared them up pretty fast with the synergy that we developed throughout the past months of training.

Everything was going smooth and everyone was ready for the boss battle, the guild medics and Regina rushing around everywhere to aid as much people as possible.

Our party gathered up and was planning to leave the guild to the boss since that was our plan.

WAS.

We were heading towards the exit when the doors slammed in our faces, almost decapitating me. Startled, we turned around and a blue shimmer appeared from all around the room, after a while the blue shimmers collected around us and solidified in the end of the room, and two murky green serpents appeared coiled around each other.

At first, everything was going well, the guild's small teams divided up into the tanks, damage dealers, healers, every role was covered with at least 3 people. I was slightly envious that they had so many people, sort of made me want to start a guild.

Pushing my feelings away like I usually do, I observed the decrease of success within the battle, a lot of guild members had fallen back, some surviving with only a sliver of health, whilst some were not so lucky and died valiant members of the guild.

When I was about to go in, I got stopped by Jacky as he pointed to a white line of smoke appearing from the side, and a smoky figure emerged as I saw Lisa charging in.

Firstly, I was jealous as jelly. Like she had a katana. A KATANA. Where in the hell did she get that? Secondly, I could barely follow her, I only upgraded a few points in my battle observing skill so it was hard for me to look at her. Why? Because she was running and sprinting around like Sonic on steroids. She was sprinting around the walls as she kept slashing and swiping at the serpents. At first I thought she was going to be able to solo the boss but I thought wrong.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 Without Gratitude. -

Britney's P.O.V

Lisa.

She was fast, way faster than how we're describing her now. There are no words. My speed skill in the group is highest, but there's a feeling that she maxed her's already. I don't see any of my friends, don't tell me…

"They're not dead! They're in one of the dungeons!" Lisa cried out, noticing that we're here.

"Regina, quick." I ordered.

"On my way." Regina ran out of the door, desperately trying to find the others. Our friends.

Lisa, seemed to be holding up, until one of the serpents head came forward, it's teeth showing, poison drooling from them. Lisa was too busy dodging the tail that she doesn't see what's coming.

"LISA!" I yell. Me and Tanya raced up, we used our swords and blocked the two teeth for her. I can't believe we're doing this. We promised not to deal with the boss. "Run!" I called Lisa.

"No. I'm Okay, you guys go help the others." She said arrogantly.

"Ughhh." Me and Tanya pushed the teeth back. "You go heal yourself until you have the energy to come back." Jacky was dealing with the other head, like one wasn't enough.

"I don't need your help."

Thanks to the upgrade in my sword, I managed to slice off one tooth, Tanya was using her double blades to damage it's neck, obviously when she had the time, she was staring at Lisa's Katana. Jelly much? Jacky was still battling the other head, while Lisa was trying to bump him off. What is she trying to do? We're here to help.

I moved on to damaging the tail, since it was flinging people everywhere. It didn't sense me, I landed 8 to 10 cut's, which decreased most of the health. I came back to help Jacky, when some venom from the teeth dripped onto Lisa. She was too busy outdoing Jacky and didn't notice it. Huh, maxed in speed but never notices the dangerous things that she could easily dodge.

I rushed over to try and knock her out, when Regina burst in with our friends behind her. Even though Lisa was about to get poisoned, I couldn't be happier, I see them- Kaylin, Michelle, Geoff, AT (Short for Adrian Toff) and Theo. My classmates. My friends.

Regina saw what was happening and jumped as high as she could, pushing Lisa away from the poison just in time. Though they fell to the floor pretty hard, it's better than being in seething pain. Jacky quickly finished it off with the sword skill he acquired in one of the quests.

Me and Tanya did a double attack and got rid of the remaining health points. We came down to greet our friends, oh right, and to make sure Lisa was okay.

"Hey you guys alright?" I asked to all of them.

"I never needed your help." Lisa replied coldly.

Tanya's P.O.V.

"I never needed your help."

Oh, not to forget to mention, at that moment I just wanted to slap the virtuality out of her.

"Pfft. Excuse me Lisa? Like first, that speed shxt just almost killed you. Second, do you know how much danger you were in? Like it takes a lot to make /Regina/ jump into battle."

I semi-scolded Lisa as I was interrupted by Kaylin rushing in and hugging Lisa fussing over her injuries. Like seriously, these people need to learn their limits.

Anyways, I headed over to Adrian and Theodre, though we usually call him Theo. They were talking about the new abilities they acquired and all that jazz. Us three were part of the original group, the other two being my bro- other people. We were beta-testers and we got to level 36 before it was disabled.

"Tanya! Never knew you would be in here!" Theo greeted as Adrian just waved something bothering him, I should ask him about that later.

"Well, I was a beta-tester and I am ADDICTED to video games so it's pretty predictable."

I retorted as I gave him a bro hug.

"Where's the duo katanas?"

Adrian asked as my face fell dark.

"Lisa has one of 'em."

I explained. The duo katana's that I aimed for was both legendary katana's that were originally single wield but a player is able to dual wield them. I forgot to explain.

"How?"

"She probably got to the quest before I did."

I was out alone in level 4 when I ran towards the secret cave where the quest to my first half of my weapon was located but it was cleared. Now I know who completed it.

"Are you going to ask her for it? Since it's half of your one true love?" He joked around.

I shook my head.

"I know she'll be too stubborn to give it, plus why would someone give up a Katana? Anyways, I think the game glitched on me or something cause I have two main attack attributes now."

I explained the whole dark abilities thing when I was defeating the ox's, but left out Jake and also that the abilities were assassin abilities that usually should be available only to red players.

Before any more could be said, we were called over by Kaylin for a group meeting.

The guild leader stood among them and gave me a solemn smile.

"Talk to you guys later." I said to the guys as I jogged over to the guild leader.

I knelt on one leg and bowed my head down, "I'm sorry, we broke our oath to not interfere with the boss battle, but one of our... acquaintances were caught up in a situation that we could not bear to happen."

I apologized as I heard the guild leader take a deep breath.

"I understand the desperation of saving your friend so your apology is accepted."

I gave my thanks as I heard Lisa moaning in her mattress to Geoff about her not needing any help. Once in a while it's inspirational how she never gives up, but sometimes she gets too arrogant that she bites off more than she can swallow. Oh I mean chew.

Before I could think anymore about her, my thoughts got interrupted by the guild leader who bid us farewell and led his remaining members out of level 6 and into level 7.

After Lisa could stand and walk properly, we headed towards the entrance of level 7 as me and Britney headed first, our weapons equipped just in case we get spawn jumped by monsters.

"She ought to learn some gratitude or respect, or it's going to kill her."

I heard Britney mutter under her breath as I chuckled.

"I could just save the agonizing pain and kill her now. Ms. Tactician, just give the word. You the brain, I'm the mindless soldier that follows your orders. Once in a while."

Britney easily smiled back, it's quite astonishing how she could smile so easily, even after a battle. "Well, that was a good fight though right? Let's find a day where we can all fight together with them, oh how fun it would be!" She jumped and twirled around.

"I hope Lisa would let us!" I joked back as we headed out into level 7, our party now bigger. I'm not sure about bigger and better. But bigger for sure.

* * *

><p>Hihi<p>

EEEP So we found some friends :)) annnnd Lisa seems like a bit of a stubborn person

Same same, leave a review and all that

fun fact: These characters are actually based on people that we know, the names and such ;)

If you guys wanna be part of it, or create your own OOC, pm me or AngelofDarkTorture and we would find a way to mix you guys in!

Just remember to include: name, personality, clothes, weapon and how you would want urself to look.

xoxo

cupcake

PS if you guys like Fairy Tail, go see me new fanfic called "Remember Me Please"


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 About Reality

Britney's P.O.V

Even though Lisa was in a pretty bad mood, it was a nice day for all of us. We found a day to all meet up and talk about things, experiences, all that. Since they were in a different party, they had their own plans since Level 6, and we did too. In the end, Tanya found one of her Katanas and traded her newly upgraded dual swords with Lisa, she was reluctant at first but we ended up maxing the upgrade level and she accepted it. It was more than enough for Tanya to get her Katana's.

"I'm just super happy that we could all meet up, man I missed you guys! Though it isn't really that good that we all ended up in this deathly game. I'm just glad that you guys didn't die!" I was hyped, I kept babbling about this and that, I wonder if my speaking speed increases when I upgrade my speed level.

"We're just as surprised that you guys are alive too!" Adrian said while grabbing his drink.

Our group just giggled at each other. They didn't know that we were beta testers, though Jacky had to tell Regina.

"So how did you guys meet?" I asked Michelle.

"When the creepy dude showed us the mirrors, coincidentally Kaylin was right next to me! In level 3 we were searching for some meat in the forest and found Geoff taming a cat. We found out he was joined up with AT and Theo, Lisa too."

"Wow, Geoff is a tamer then huh?" I asked while he was petting his cat Whiskers.

"Yep, I'm working on maxing the Tamer skill. Hey Tan, you seem like you tamed a pet too!"

"Yea, I found it a while back, but being a pet tamer isn't my number one priorities." As they looked at Austin and Whiskers play around. Jacky was catching up with the guys, while Regina was laughing about something Lisa said. I looked around and I think I had this big smile on my face because they all stared at me for some reason.

"Hey Brit? Something wrong?" I realised that I tear came running down my face. It wasn't a sad one of course. I was the happiest I've been in this world.

"No, no. I'm just, I'm just so glad you guys are here with us." I smiled even wider, wiping off the tear. "I know there's going to be hard times in the future, but… Let's all do the best we can all right! We'll survive this together!" I raised my glass and gave a toast. The other followed, with the biggest smiles I've ever seen since I came into this world.

"Of course!" We all screamed, glasses raised in the air as we all cheered in excitement. Not fear, but the excitement to get home, we know we'll survive this together.

After a while, we left the restaurant and left a few tips since we were pretty loud, oops.

Lisa wanted to go forest hunting so we parted ways. We decided to go have a walk in the mountains and enjoy the sunset.

When we got up to the top, I stretched. "Ahhh, such a great feeling to be up here, it's virtual but it feels about right." I let myself standing there, eyes closed, feeling the air go through me.

"Yea, it does feel nice doesn't it?" Tanya came to stand with me while Jacky and Regina cuddled in the corner. For that moment, it was pure happiness and relaxation. The pressure of this maniac world has lifted from our shoulders just for a while.

*Rustle rustle*

"Huh?" I stared at the bushes which the sound came from.

*Rustle rustle*

Now even Tanya heard it. I drew my sword and walked quietly close towards the sound. Getting ready for battle, I slice open the bushes and saw a guy. He had pitch black hair and was about 18. Someone who resembled Angel, my best friend.

Tanya's P.O.V.

"Do I kill him?"

I asked, both a bit of joking and seriousness mixed into my tone.

Britney shook her head as she slowly made her way towards the mysterious guy, I was about to yell at her for being such an idiot but I let her go, anyways, my small speed upgrade that Brit helped me get would just help me get to her if he was to attack, plus it's not like Brit can't handle it herself. Surprisingly, he was first to speak.

"I remember you."

I stood there and blinked. Who the hell was he?

"You're Britney, my little sis' best bud' right?"

Britney nodded as she placed Ana back into her sheath and reached out her hand to help him untangle from the bushes.

"You're..."

"John. John Franz, brother of Angel Franz."

He introduced himself and I finally felt safe enough to place my katana into one of the cross sheaths of my back.

We led him back to our little meet-up spot and he introduced himself as I laid down and enjoyed the wind and sunset in front of me. With the wind softly humming at my ear, my eyelids went heavy and I fell asleep.

"SUZZ."

I woke up with a jolt and came face to face with Lisa, who was hovering above me with a stern look on her face.

"What time is it?"

I asked, when I saw that the sky was pitch black with a few stars scattered around the night sky.

"It's 2 am already."

Holy crap. I slept for that long?

"Where's the others?"

"Gone."

What?!

"What do you mean gone? Like dead, injur-"

"Back at the inn. No-one wanted to wake you so they cast a shield over you so you wouldn't be sleep PK-ed."

"Ah."

I felt useless and vulnerable for a while when Lisa lent me her hand, I grasped her arm and pulled myself up and started walking with her towards the inn.

"It's been 3 months already… Is it wrong for me to not want to go back to reality?"

Lisa piped up as I stared at her with shock.

Stay here forever? That's just ridiculous, arrogant, selfish- and actually not a pretty bad thought.

I nodded, "It is pretty amazing here, if we were just free and would not have to have the pressure of dying in reality I might just want to live here. Anyway, my parents are rarely home and probably won't care."

She grunted a noise of agreement as we continued our walk to the inn.

Walking into the inn's reception hall, I saw the whole group there as I headed over.

"Oh Tanya, Lisa, perfect timing. We were just planning on starting up a guild."

Britney squealed in joy.

"Sounds good." Lisa agreed.

"Same here, though, who's our guild leader and what's our name?" I asked as I plopped down onto one of the free sofas beside Theo.

"I'm going to be the leader, Britney's going to be lead tactician, and we think you should be the front line guide."

Jacky added, and I nodded my head.

"Sweet. But really. What's our name?"

Jacky then cleared his throat.

"Option 1?"

2 people raised their hands.

"Option 2?"

4 people raised their hands.

"Option 3?"

5 people raised their hands.

"Well then, it's decided."

I was confused about the voting but I just shook it off.

"And the guild's name is?" I questioned, getting impatient.

"Challengers Of Higher Chaos."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 The Time We Started A Guild

Britney's P.O.V

We finally decided to form a guild, and now we have enough manpower to defeat the boss on level 16. We all went to the blacksmiths shop for a little upgrade in all our weapons.

_Elizabeth's Blacksmith Shop_

I heard that she was a new shop owner and we decided to help out. "Hey, I heard that this place was new and wanted to check it out." I said cheerfully and shook Liz's hand.

"Well, I'm happy that you guys came. Here, I see your weapons need some upgrading, please hand them over, it will only be for a while."

We all handed our weapons over, my boots were in there as well, haven't upgraded them in a while. Michelle worked with some bow and arrows, a long range fighter, Kaylin was a terrific fencer, her blade was slimmer than mine and she had quite a bit of armor, a semi-tank player. Adrian had a flat blade, mid-line player and Theo was covered in heavy armor and wielded an axe, another tank. Geoff was a tamer, so his animals had different skills, an unknown player.

We all sat in a waiting room while we thought of a plan, well, I did.

I was pacing the floor, swishing my hands and jumping around. For some reason this helps me think better. We have two tanks, one healer, one long range player, a pet tamer, three front liners and a mid fighter. It seemed like a pretty stable group, though I guess in order to heal this many people, Regina would lose a lot of strength.

"Hey Geoff?"

"Yea?" He said, petting his cat, while it purred.

"Would there be a pet that has healing abilities?

"Of course! Even Whiskers here could heal with some of her saliva."

"A bit disgusting, but I guess that's a bonus. Hmm." I was still in the thinking mode. So we have an extra healer, now then.

"We have no idea what this boss is like, so the first thing we do is to dodge it's attack and find out the beasts attack pattern." When I said dodge the attack I looked straight at Tanya, as I knew that she would try to attack first.

"Sheesh, I know I know." Tanya noticed and replied, crossing her arms.

I continued on. "Regina and Geoff, stay at the back lines and heal anyone who is injured. Geoff, if there is any animals that you have tamed that have attack powers, please summon them when it is needed. Michelle, stay in long range, circle around the monster when we attack and try to attack without him noticing. Kaylin and Theo, do your best to attack, you guys have the heaviest armor, charge in first when I call. Adrian, you should stay within mid-range, attack when someone is injured and help out Michelle. Jor, Suzz and I will be in the front lines, attack after you notice any pattern that the monster has hinted to you, I trust that you guys will move swiftly and NOT recklessly." I stared at Tanya once more.

"I'll try my best. Jeez." She replied.

I glazed over to realise that Angel's brother is sitting in the corner of the room, sleeping. Gee, this guy is really a snoozer, but for Angel's sake, I'll bring him back for her.

"Everyone clear on the plan? John! Wake up! You're going to help only when we really need it, ok?" That would keep him safe for now.

"Yepp Ms. Tactician." They replied.

"Stop. Calling. Me. That." I replied, but I was laughing, we were having fun even when getting ready for a boss battle.

"You know I'm not worthless right?" John asked, barely awake.

"Yea. But at least you'd be safe. Angel…"

"She told me to find you in the game when I get in." He cut me off.

"She, she did?"

"So." He whispered. "You're a beta tester huh?"

"Shhhh, no one knows." I quickly replied. "Of course she told you, ugh. Anyways, you'll probably not need to do anything in the battle, just stay as backup okay?"

"Alright alright." I was about to walk away when he said "You know. I wouldn't want my sisters best friend to die right?"

"She wouldn't want her brother to die either."

"Just promise me, you won't be reckless. For her."

"I'm the lead tactician. When would I be reckless?" I smiled and left. Liz was waiting with our weapons, newly upgraded and ready to kick some ass.

Tanya's P.O.V

When we walked in, I don't know about the others but I was astounded by the setting. For the past few weeks I've had trouble reminding myself that I'm in a virtual world. I've been talking to Jacky, Britney and Jake about some of my plans for the future, both in reality and virtually. But for now I decided to put that aside and took some time to soak up the beauty of the dungeon.

Firstly, the entrance to the dungeon was cool enough, from afar it might've looked like a waterfall, but go nearer and you notice that it wasn't water falling, and it was icicles. Now, you're probably wondering how we got in without being impaled, well our party was thinking that there was this switch or something, but I got restless after a while and I just charged straight in. I heard a scream from someone about an icicle about to stab me, but when it touched my skin it melted into water, and it wasn't absorbed but went around me, then turned into ice again when it left contact from me. Sweet.

Secondly, after convincing everyone to just charge through, I'm in this ice cavern looking thing, it had a route connecting to other "levels" of the dungeon, the top of the cavern was a gradient of black, dark blue, blue, then ice white, with icicles at the rim. The floor was made of pure ice, so some people slipped around, but they were quickly crafting some ice boots so they wouldn't face-plant in battle.

We were all crammed at the entrance of of dungeon, not wanting to aggro any of the monsters just yet, Geoff stepped up front and scanned one of the monsters with his pet tamer abilities where he could collect data of every monster he's heard, seen, or fought of. (A/N from AoDT: Pokedex? Anyone?)

*Monster Name: Rimehound

Type: Ice / Water

Special Attribute: Getting hit by a Rimehound while under 30% HP will apply frost and slow movements by 60%*

I peeked around his shoulder to see the menu and I cleared my throat and got the guild's attention, "For this first part of the dungeon, we're going to be facing Rimehound-"

"Which interesting fact, rime is another word for frost." Geoff piped up and a few chuckles echoed off the ice walls which relieved some of the tension in our members, Geoff is such a cute little guy, he was actually older than us, born in April, though he was like our little brother.

Britney peered over and saw the menu too, she continued, "They're Ice and Water type, so it's both an advantage and disadvantage. The advantage is that because they're double attributed they have double weaknesses, nature and fire abilities will cowork to deal maximum effect. But the disadvantage is that any form of humidity or liquid will be used against you, so people with any attacks that use water, use your backup abilities for this level, since intuition tells me this passive will be present through the whole dungeon."

We all nodded our heads, while the people with water abilities were opening their battle menus and changing their skills.

I raised my arm and silenced everyone. "The most important thing to remember is; if you reach under 40% of your HP you are to fall back IMMEDIATELY."

I raised my voice at "immediately", our guild is one of the smallest guilds, but we have more skilled players and also a decent amount of beta-testers. I eyed Lisa and a few other members. I could go on about what battle really is but that'll be another lecture, from both Britney and me. These people were strong, I admit, but they didn't know their limits, and if they did, they would push it. Hard.

Britney stepped up and commanded.

"Tanks, go up front, remove your shoulder guards and leg guards for now, we're going to need that durability as high as possible for our boss battle. Mid-Fighters, equip your weapons and prepare yourself 5 paces behind the tanks. Back-Lines, equip your weapons and stay back, deal damage when theres a chance, and don't go any further than the mid-fighters for your own safety. Front-Liners, equip your weapons and ready yourself behind the tanks until I give the word, when you need a heal or a buff, switch with your duo and head towards Geoff for a buff or Regina for a heal. Geoff and Regina, charge up your SP and ready to give the front liners as much buffs as they can."

Everyone rustled into place and got into battle stance, it was a truly beautiful sight to me, to see how everyone was prepared, tanks raising up their shields, front, mid and back liners ready to fight and the healers ready to buff everyone and ready to save anyone if it came down to it.

"After clearing this level, keep pressing forward, the route in this place is very obvious and direct, before long we will be reaching the boss."

I reminded everyone.

"Let's do this!" Jacky cheered as everyone joined in.

"Level 16, here we come!" Britney yelled, having fun, as we charged into the fight, ready to clear one more level to get closer to the reality we came from.

* * *

><p>Hey guys! I haven't really caught up to this, but I promise were actually working on it really hard behind the scenes xd<p>

please review, like, comment, whatever :pp enjoy the storyyy!

xoxo cupcakebrit


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 - We're All in This Together

Our formation worked. My plan was on it's way to the boss's room. The Rimehounds were aggro, but easily Michelle took the ones that were coming our way, and Geoff summoned some bigger creatures he tamed to counter attack. The tanks cannot be equipped yet, as to save the armour for the boss, their job in the boss fight is the most dangerous, so I told them to put the armour away and stay back. For Regina's sake, I also told Jacky to save up his health. Tanya used the speed points I taught her to get rid of the closer ones, using another sword as a substitute for now. Anastasia was a good help, along with the newly upgraded boots, thank you Liz.

"CHARGE!" Tanya screamed at the top of her virtual lungs.

Lisa ran forward, she wanted to join with, agreeing that she won't try to bump us out this time. She will be accompanying AT in the mid row, after much deliberation.

"Geoff, get most of your buffer pets ready." I told him as the front line barged into the last remaining row of Rimehounds. "Tanks, armour on!"

It was amazing, even though it was just the dungeons, we were all doing our best. I realised, it wasn't fear that we showed on our faces. It was laughter. We were having fun, together.

I snapped out of my hypnosis due to someone screaming. I looked around, searching for where the sound came from.

"Michelle! A hound came behind her! Go!" Tanya said, fending off two Rimehounds, she doesn't have the time to go help her. I ran towards the back, to find a hound directly above Michelle, an icy cold piece of drool about to drip on her neck, one sharp paw, at the tip of her face. Her bow was flung out of her grasp, if I didn't move now, she would be scratched to death by that monster. I rushed over, realising a pack of them heading my way. I put as much energy to my boots and ran straight towards her, I got there quickly and sliced the mutt in half, well tried to. I needed to switch Ana to store her for the boss, and the sword I'm using now isn't as strong as her, it noticed me and came forward, I barely missed it's claw, and it kept running after me, luckily one of Geoff's bear came up behind it and scratched away it's remaining HP, it's body dissolving into the air, I quickly mouthed a thank you to Geoff, with the cheeky smile on his face, like my little brother coming to save me.

I handed Michelle her bow and arrows back, she quickly lit them on fire and started targeting the hounds behind me. I turned around and ran up the walls, adding heat to my blade I slashed at them, dealing some damage. There was one left, I did not have much strength left to fight, and Michelle was out of arrows at the moment. I started to pull her, using my speed I tried to get out of it's reach, though this one was faster than I expected, and quickly caught up. I flung Michelle as far as I could as one of the wolfs scratch my leg before I stabbed my sword into it's neck.

I limped forward as Regina ran over to try and heal me.

"No. Save the healing for the boss battle, we don't want to waste your SP." I said, one hand on her shoulder as support. I saw from Regina that she was draining out her SP by transferring some of her health into it, it showed on her face and I didn't want to make her have more problems than she had originally. The ice was quickly covering my leg, but stopped mid-thigh. It was hard to walk in, but I could manage. "We have defeated the dungeon." I looked around, not much were injured, minor cuts were healed by Whiskers. "Now we shall go in the boss room." They all looked at me. Worry in their eyes. "I'm fine, now go, stay with the plan." Though they were considering, they knew I would not want to have gone this far just for it to stop because I got hurt.

Kaylin and Theo used their heaviest armour and pushed the doors open.

The floor lit up, the door closed behind us and our boss battle begun.

"Remember our formation!" I quickly ordered as we went in. The boss was materializing in front of us - A huge mutt with three heads, deep blue in colour, it's eyes were red but had an icy feeling, the tail was a sharp icicle that could cut diamonds. Each head had a special attribute of their own, one had razor sharp teeth, one was this icy fog around it and the other one was normal, I had my suspicions on that normal head. Shaking out of our horror we focused and headed on with our plan.

"Back line! Circle the beast from afar!" I ordered, leaving the shoulder of Regina as my leg slowly healed, but still numb. "Dodge when it attacks and observe it's battle pattern!" I shouted orders here and there. Lisa came up to me after scaling the walls and observing from height.

"It seems like it is using it's tail most of the time, if we could decrease the tails movement first, we might get a better chance at getting the face." I nodded as I formed a plan inside my head.

"Tanks! Attack the tail! Remember to dodge it, don't try to resist, it is sharper than your blades!" I ordered out, they confirmed and ran towards the flying tail. "Jacky, Tanya! We will each take a head, beware of the teeth! Try to target a weak point and attack. Mid line, please help anyone who is in danger and keep observing to find other weaknesses. Michelle, be careful with the amount of arrows you have left, only hit when you need to! Regina and Geoff, give us a boost when needed, don't worry about my leg for now, I could still walk and jump."

We all went into battle. The boss was strong and soon we realised the head with an icy fog could spray ice, unfortunately, it was the head I was dealing with.

Jacky was using full force, slicing at it's ears. He found out that the head he was fighting was protecting it's ear as best as it could, he clashed two of his heaviest swords to nullify it's senses, slashing and stabbing as best as he could, we could hear Regina cheering him on. Now that's what a girlfriend should do.

Tanya was using her Katana's, I'm proud that she was trying her best not to be reckless. Her part of the boss, the second head had the sharpest teeth, she started to try and cut off most of the teeth first, not my first choice, but it was a plan that she hastily made, at least she made one, surprisingly.

We had to jump quite a lot, or try to stay on top of the head to attack, it was hard for me, my leg was barely movable yet. I know I should get Regina to heal it for me, but it really isn't that big of a problem. Save the healing for other people.

Kaylin got hit by the tail and dragged herself to the side, with the help of Regina she was back on her feet. Regina really did herself well, she is almost maxing her healing skill and she started working with her dagger in case she was alone. Theo was trying his best with the tail, but it was huge, despite my instructions he tried to block it. Fortunately Michelle quickly took a fire arrow and shot at the tail, melting a little part of it so that Theo could get away. Lisa was running up the walls and jumping all over, landing slashes on the furr. Once someone lands a cut on it's body, it turns into ice, indicating that it is no longer part of the body, but after one cut it would heal itself and would need two cuts to apply actual damage. Adrian was working in the underbelly of the beast, damaging it's sharp claws and cutting off his strong fur.

I couldn't find any weaknesses with the head I got, I tried attacking the eyes, it quickly glowed bright and blinded me for a second, readying to blow ice at me, quickly coming to my senses I dodged and climbed on it's head, trying to balance myself. There was a shot of pain in my right leg, where it got frozen. I tried thinking about other things, masking the pain. I stabbed at it's ear, but it just got more annoyed.

"Remembrance Stream!" I called. My sword glew in a vibrant neon pink, it was on flames, I was wishing for this move as a last resort, but since I could not find any blind spots, I was forced to. This rash and reckless move used a lot of my HP that I have left. I have been training for this move for quite a while. I slashed at it's nose once again, the beast's head backed up a bit, two out of four bars left of the boss's HP. Even though I decreased a lot of the boss's health with that hit, I got him even madder, it got ready. It got ready to shoot a breath of ice, so cold it would freeze me to death in about seconds. My boots glew red as I used my remaining SP to dodge the attack. The ice on my right leg started to grow more and more, it's up to my waistline now.

This battle has been going on for a long time. Don't give up guys. We will win this.

Tanya's P.O.V

I was caught up in my own little battle and mine was just infuriating. Last time I caught a glimpse outside my battle I almost died, but I saw Britney was against a ice freezing breath head which seemed to have no weakness, Jacky was against pretty easy head, which I was pretty relieved because I felt like if he got a harder one, Regina wouldn't let him go.

Well, at first I felt like I got the easier head, where it was always giving away it's vulnerable spots all the time, which was it's teeth, it's teeth was it's weapon at the same time, it was surely ten times if not more, sharper than my katana's.

I at first thought it would be a easy to just cut off all the head's teeth whenever it roared and when I finished that I could finish off this quarter of the boss. I was slicing away to my heart's content, I could see the sliced teeth falling onto the floor, so I thought I was doing amazing and it would be finished in no time.

Sadly, the game's universe just had to prove me wrong. After a while I looked to the others since I sliced off all the teeth so I could have a split second of rest. As I said. I almost died. My head roared but I just nodded it off since I knew the worst he can do is swallow me, but I was met with my new best friend. Blood.

The head's teeth wasn't the usual off-white bone that most monsters have as teeth. Instead, I could see the teeth growing out, this time it was a transparent pale blue. Ice. Ice was replacing the broken teeth and it was just as sharp as it was before. A whole array of curse words coursed through me as I noticed that my left arm was bleeding. Damn it, my good arm too. I sheathed Death Lotus, my weaker katana, it's still powerful but I didn't put as much enchantments on it as my other katana, Posion Ivy.

On the edges of my vision I see me, Jacky, Britney and Regina's HP, since we didn't disband the party even though we established a guild. Jacky and Regina were fine, their HP above 70%, but me and Britney's HP was dropping rapidly. We were both around 50% and one hit by our heads we lost 10% already.

I checked my other stats, my leather armor's durability was holding up really well, thanks to Liz, Ivy was doing fine, her durability still above 90%. Liz helped me craft a complementary pair of enchanted shoes since she saw from my weapon that I was a front liner. I also told her about my plans for the future so it might've had a connection. Who knows?

My boots were leather too, special request, though it was a really tough leather hide, it was collected by a level 96 (A/N AoTD: Average Level: 35-45.) , which was pretty impressive since the original trio were only level 47, and the hide was collected from level 24, pretty cool. Their enchantments were an extra damage tool, about the same level as Britney's speed boots.

It was enchanted so that whenever I willed it to, the heel of the boots would create a razor blade that could aid me if my weapons were not enough. Which was pretty damn neat if you ask me.

I charged up my SP, trying to stall the mutt's head with my sword, the slowing attack speed enchantment from my sword helped a whole lot, saving me from having to jump around as much with an arm that was numbing, fast.

I was literally doing this for minutes: jump, slash, jump, slash, jump, slash. You get the picture, and I was getting exhausted. I had no duo to switch with, so I couldn't back out for even a split second for Whiskers to spit on me. More jumping, more slashing, but I knew I couldn't hold on forever, my arm was still bleeding and it was taking it's toll on my HP bar.

I heard a few people who have retreated due to major injuries yell at me for not using abilities but I was saving up for one of my best abilities. It had to have my SP bar full which was around 5,000 SP.

Jump, slash, jump, slash, the clang of my katana against the skin of the mutt's echoes along with the other battle noises. Checking my stats, the longest I can hold out until my HP reaches zero is around 3 minutes, by the looks of it Britney only had one. By the time when my SP's full enough… Shit. 2 minutes.

But knowing that I might die doesn't stop me at all, actually, it encourages me to do better, so that if I die, I die as this epic hero. With katanas. Going all hadouken on people and shiz. Yeah.

I kept jumping and slashing, while I yelled out, hoping someone could hear me, "Find Regina and some other tanks to go to Britney and help her no matter what she says!" I wanted Britney to live, I might be better at battle but what's the use of master battle skills without knowing when and how to use them? I kept working the head's hp lower and lower, and I knew now there was no turning back, I could either finish my part and die happy, or die trying. There was the slight chance I'll sur- nah, it's pretty impossible, I just had to hope that someone heard my plea to save Britney.

10 seconds until my SP get's maxed.

9.

8.

7.

6.

5.

I took out some elixirs.

4.

*Tanya took "Strength of the Boar".* Increasing my attack power.

3.

*Tanya took "Plans of the Wolves".* Increasing my battle planning power.

2.

*Tanya took "Agility of the Cheetah".* Increasing my movement speed.

1.

I readied my katana's.

0.

"CRIMSON SCAR!"

I roared with all my breath as I felt a dark aura surround me.

Now usually, if someone was to be surrounded by dark and murky colors of purple and black, people would panic, but I've been doing some experimenting and training with my dark assassin magic, and I've learned this ability just recently. I've used it once or twice but only barely, but this time, I put everything I had into it.

I relaxed myself, closed my eyes, the dark aura serving as a barrier for a while, as I let my sane self have one last thought.

"Crimson Scar… The ability that makes the player absorb as much negative energy around the user and merges into one, giving different attributes depending on their surroundings. It's one of the legendary PK abilities. It's on a higher status than red, it's for Scarlet Players.

But I sighed and knew that it was the only way I could come out victorious now, I was reckless and didn't think this through, but it's too late now. I let my soul get corrupted into the darkness and evil around me. I felt a surge of energy around me, my wounds closing shut, the surroundings gave me a feeling of slipperiness where if anyone was to grasp me I could slide out. My brain echoed one word.

Kill.

I opened my eyes as I saw the black and purple mixture of air seep into my skin, my vision went black for a split second. But when the absorption was over, I could see crystal clear, every damaged, weak, defended spot of the whole boss. My brain was sensing the people behind me, telling me to kill them, but it took all my remaining will power to command myself one last thing, kill the three-headed mutt ONLY.

I felt my mental villain whine but agree as I let my last drop of sanity into the darkness and all was dark.


End file.
